APA Style Refresh: Suffixes

Join us for a new blog feature where we give our readers, students, and scholarly writers an APA Refresh. These posts will help you to understand the common (and some not-so-common) APA rules, guidelines, and style considerations. We hope you find them informative and helpful. Just like a cold beverage on a hot, hot day, you'll definitely enjoy this APA Refresh!  

When formatting essays in APA style, you may already know the basics of document formatting and how to use in-text citation. If not, I highly recommend a visit to our Writing Center resources for APA style. Even if you already know what to include in a parenthetical citation and how to format authors’ names in the reference list, there are some nuances in APA formatting that can cause problems even for seasoned users of APA style. For example, how should a writer format author names that include suffixes such as “Sr.” or “Jr.”?

According to the APA Style blog, while suffixes are set off by commas and included in the reference list, suffixes should not be included in in-text citations. Whether author Jane Doe is a “Jr.” or “III” or just plain Jane Doe, the only time a writer will use a suffix in conjunction with an author name is in the reference list. You can see a couple of examples illustrating how a writer might cite a work by Jane Elizabeth Doe, Sr., below:

Example in-text citation:

Doe (2016) lamented the nitpicky nature of APA formatting.

Example reference list entry:

Doe, J. E., Sr. (2016). Why does my suffix have to make everything so difficult? The Journal of Nitpicky APA Rules, 22, 6-46. doi:24.5297.t64364

Putting aside the fact that I wouldn’t want to read a 40-page article from a journal titled The Journal of Nitpicky APA Rules, using suffixes in APA isn’t so difficult. Even so, it can be helpful to review some of the more obscure APA rules occasionally. If you find these rules as difficult to remember as I do, the Walden University Writing Center blog team is here to help!

Katherine McKinney is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. She received an M.A. in English from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at Walden. Katherine's goal as an instructor is to show students that the best writing results from practice, and she aims to provide feedback and resources that will guide students through the invention, composition, and revision process.

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